Paul Warne says Derby County’s players remain in a positive and upbeat frame of mind ahead of Saturday’s Sky Bet League One meeting with Charlton Athletic at Pride Park Stadium (3pm kick-off).
Derby will head into the contest with the Addicks looking to return to winning ways following a 3-2 loss at Wycombe Wanderers and a 1-1 draw at home to Lincoln City in their last two outings.
The loss at Adams Park is the Rams’ only defeat in their last 17 outings in League One and their excellent form since the Autumn has seen them make solid inroads into the division’s top six.
Warne’s side sit in fifth place going into the latest round of fixtures and a victory over Charlton, who have been in impressive form under Dean Holden since his arrival towards the end of 2022, could see Derby edge into fourth spot once again.
In the lead-up to Saturday’s match, Warne sat down with RamsTV to discuss the draw with Lincoln, the mood in the camp and also offered views on this weekend’s opposition.
Reflections on the draw with Lincoln…
My opinion, having watched the game back, hasn’t changed. We played well in parts, obviously Lincoln going down to ten men helped, and they defended resolutely and slowed the game down. They made it difficult for us and they had something to hang on to. Our play in the first half wasn’t quick enough really; we passed the ball well, but we didn’t ask their goalkeeper that many questions. We just didn’t take enough risks to get past someone. We were better in the second half and had some decent chances to win the game. I appreciate we can’t win every single time we step onto the pitch, but we can’t afford to waste 45 minutes because that allowed to Lincoln to build confidence. It is easier to face ten men when the team you’re up against are already losing, which is stating the obvious, but when it’s against a side that has something to hang on to it can be so difficult and more awkward. It makes them work even harder and be more vigilant and I don’t think many managers feel too delighted facing a side in that situation. I’ve played in games like that when I was as a player, so I know what it is like.
On the mood in the camp and keeping spirits high…
We keep the same processes whether we win, lose or draw and reinforce the messages that give us the best chance to be at our maximum and offer the best opportunity to win. You can’t guarantee results, but you should be able to for a level of performance. We always do things the same and that’s been the case this week. When we were on the winning run, we always sat the lads down and showed them what went great and where we can improve. We’ve done the same after the last two matches, we don’t treat them any differently. I am not downbeat; we can’t do anything about the last two results, but we can learn from them. We want to keep the standards up and if you do that, you generally get what you deserve over the course of a season. I’ve said it loads of times; what has gone before doesn’t matter when the whistle blows and the game starts. Charlton won’t care we lost at Wycombe and drew with Lincoln. We weren’t a million miles off in those matches but in some of the ones we’ve won recently, they could easily have gone the other way. Games are settled on the smallest moments; Didzy’s header for example the other night or Sibs hitting the bar. We’re talking about a matter of inches. When you’re winning everything isn’t perfect and when you aren’t, everything isn’t failure either. It’s always somewhere inbetween and that’s why we’re doing things the same and keeping everyone upbeat and positive.
On three games in a week influencing his team selection…
I take council with a lot of the staff and we manage the lads well. For example, the lads that started the other night against Lincoln didn’t do a lot in training on Thursday and we had to force some of them back inside the building! Sometimes, when you don’t win, the players are more eager to get the last game out of their system in training on the grass. Sometimes though, you want them to go home and come in as keen as mustard to impress and be sharp ahead of the weekend. I felt they looked a bit tired and under it on Tuesday. You want to pick the most healthy, motivated and best team you can. We don’t have a midweek game next week, so I don’t have to worry about performance levels and fatigue going into one of those. If we feel we need to make changes, we’ll discuss it collectively.
On what he expects from Charlton…
My very good friend, Dean Holden, is the manager there and they have had some good results in recent weeks. They’ve picked up under and with the way they play, they like to control the game. They are a footballing side but also have some very good outlets out wide. I expect them to come here and attack us. I think it will have a different feel to Tuesday’s game against Lincoln; it might suit us or it might not. There are a lot of teams in this league that have been in the Premier League previously and they’ll probably feel they’re bigger than League One; Charlton are definitely one of those. They’ll see coming here beating a team currently in the top six as a big scalp, so I know how motivated they’ll be and how hard they’ll work to get a result. As with every single game, we will have to be at our very best to get a result. We’ll have the usual meetings with the lads and a good session on Friday to make sure we’re fully prepared and ready to go again.
